FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Maggie Merritt at 916-553-4167.
Historic investment will allow growing mental health nonprofit to expand policy mission & benefit more communities with special focus on children.
SACRAMENTO—Celebrating the two-year anniversary of its founding and a growing list of accomplishments in the advancement of public policy solutions on mental health, the Steinberg Institute today announced a new partnership with Sutter Health, a Sacramento-based not-for-profit health care network serving Northern California, and a largest-of-its-kind $1.5 million investment from Sutter Health Valley Area.
Already over the past two years, the Institute has worked to secure a $2 billion bond to create permanent supportive housing for people living with a serious mental illness and who have no place to call home; produced two evaluations of Full Service Partnership programs that are funded by the Mental Health Services Act (Proposition 63); increased training for law enforcement; highlighted the need for mental health linkages on college campuses; and worked to ensure that foster youth have access to mental health services no matter where they live.
Its historic partnership and $1.5 million investment from Sutter Health – the largest in the Institute’s history — will enable the nonprofit to expand its reach to more policymakers, increase understanding of mental illness, promote advocacy for integrated systems of care, and serve more communities with a special emphasis on children and adolescents.
“Sutter Health’s collaboration with the Steinberg Institute is just one example of our longstanding commitment to investing in a true system of care that includes prevention, primary care and mental health services for everyone,” said James Conforti, President for the Sutter Valley Health Area. “Investing in organizations like the Steinberg Institute that focus on advocacy and policy is an important piece of the health care system of care. It is through active partnerships that focus on the users of the system that help further shape a quality and accessible health care model. We are exceptionally excited about our partnership with the Steinberg Institute because our investment will help reduce stigma and increase understanding of mental illness across the State of California.”
“The Steinberg Institute was established to make mental health a greater public policy priority in California, to promote better and best-practice approaches by policymakers and community leaders, and to ensure mental health is a fundamental component of overall health,” said Steinberg. “This extraordinary investment from Sutter Health will allow the Institute to scale and strengthen all of the services it is already providing for the betterment of communities everywhere. All of us who have devoted our time, energy and attention to this critical issue thanks Sutter for its vision and commitment.”
The Institute’s partnership with Sutter Health will encourage international and national best practices and innovation, focus on prevention and early intervention, and expand the Institute’s reach to communities in need, consistent with Sutter’s renewed focus on child and adolescent and workplace mental health.
John Boyd, PsyD, Sutter Health’s Chief Executive Officer for Mental Health Services and a longtime mental health advocate and leader throughout the State of California, said: “Now is the time to have a collaborative focus on mental health. Sutter Health is committed to help lead this important work and wants our communities to be a National best practice with innovative solutions for mental health. Not only how we deliver services, but how we involve individuals with lived experience, both children and adults, in creating a system of care that works effectively and meets the needs of our communities.”
“Now is the time to build a comprehensive agenda for California to integrate care and ensure that mental health is a key component of overall health – as research shows us there is no health, without mental health,” said Maggie Merritt, Executive Director of the Steinberg Institute. “Our partnership with Sutter Health will go a long way toward expanding our reach and ensuring that people receive the care they need, when they need, and for as long as they need it.”
ABOUT THE STEINBERG INSTITUTE – Founded by Sacramento Mayor and former State Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, the Steinberg Institute is a leading nonprofit public policy institute that supports and encourages effective and comprehensive mental health public policymaking; helps solve disputes between mental health stakeholders; engages business leaders and other non-traditional stakeholders; evaluates the impact of current investments; and implements a bold, best-practices vision to advance mental health services and support and integrated systems of care.
ABOUT SUTTER HEALTH – Serving patients and their families in more than 100 Northern California cities and towns, Sutter Health doctors, not-for-profit hospitals and other healthcare service providers share resources and expertise to advance health care quality and access. The Sutter Medical Network includes many of California’s top-performing, highest-quality physician organizations as measured annually by the Integrated Healthcare Association. Sutter-affiliated hospitals are regional leaders in cardiac care, women’s and children’s services, cancer care, orthopedics and advanced patient-safety technology. Sutter Health cares for more than 3 million people—nearly one percent of the U.S. population.
For more information about the not-for-profit Sutter Health network visit: sutterhealth.org<http://www.prweb.net/Redirect.aspx?id=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zdXR0ZXJoZWFsdGgub3Jn>, facebook.com/sutterhealth<http://www.prweb.net/Redirect.aspx?id=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5mYWNlYm9vay5jb20vc3V0dGVyaGVhbHRo>, youtube.com/sutterhealth<http://www.prweb.net/Redirect.aspx?id=aHR0cDovL3d3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbS9zdXR0ZXJoZWFsdGg=>, twitter.com/sutterhealth<http://www.prweb.net/Redirect.aspx?id=aHR0cDovL3d3dy50d2l0dGVyLmNvbS9zdXR0ZXJoZWFsdGg=>.
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